


train meetings

by merrope



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Pureblood Culture, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 09:09:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13610142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrope/pseuds/merrope
Summary: First years Lyall Lupin and Orion Black meet on the Hogwarts Express (it doesn't go all that well).





	train meetings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meerida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meerida/gifts).



> Set in 1940.
> 
> There are mentions of WWII, incest, concentration camps and sexism in this fic. The last two are very briefly mentioned but as this is set during the Second World War it is spoken of more often. As for incest, in canon Walburga and Orion are second cousins but no incest is shown, just spoken of.

Lyall waves to his parents on the platform and just before they apparate away he sees his dad comforting mum with an arm around her shoulders. Lyall smiles sadly and can only imagine how many letters he'll need to write to his parents to help with his homesickness (the only place he had stayed overnight that wasn't his own home was his grandparents, and now he was off to Hogwarts!).

He puts his trunk away and sits his bag next to him. Beside him Boggart purrs. “It's alright girl, we'll be there soon, hm?” His tabby cat curled up on his lap and Lyall smiles. Boggart was named as such because the night before Lyall got her - which so happened to be the night before his birthday - his mother read to him about mysterious magical creatures.

The next day his father had taken him to Diagon Alley to get whatever he wanted and as soon as they stepped inside Magical Menagerie he had felt an odd bond with this cat. When he found out she was nine whole galleons he had told his dad he didn't mind getting a rat but dad had hushed him and practically threw the coins at the amused shop keeper.

He has taken out _Hogwarts: A History_ and just begun reading it when the carriage door slides open a boy comes inside, around the same age as Lyall. He has dark curly hair, a long nose and a pale face and wears smart clothes and robes, carrying a large, expensive looking trunk. In his other hand is a cage inside of which is what Lyall thinks is a sleeping Siamese cat.

He seems so absolutely perfect, with his black and white clothes with no stains or marks that Lyall can see, and his face is so sharp too, his hair completely black and skin white as clouds in the summer. With him in the room Lyall cannot help but feel dirty, which wasn't quite odd.

But his brown hair wasn't nearly as well combed and he still had a little bit of his baby fat - as his mother _loved_ reminding him - yet he was all long and lanky legs and hadn't quite grown into himself just yet. His clothes were nice and clean, of course - the Lupins weren't the oldest wizarding family in Britain but they were well-known and weren't exactly poor but not were they rich, like he suspected this boy was. He felt rather inadequate near the other boy.

The boy is already sitting down when he first looks at Lyall, seemingly surprised at seeing him. “Oh, is it alright if I sit here?” The boy asks in a voice that tells Lyall he'll be staying no matter what.

“Of course,” Lyall answers quietly. He looks at the boy's case and sees a crest on and he is sure he knows which family it is but he can't quite place it, then the boy speaks.

“What's your name?” He asks, putting his legs on his seat and resting his head on the arm of it, getting quite comfortable. _Make yourself at home_ , Lyall thinks.

“Lyall Lupin,” he says, with maybe a little pride - but shouldn't you be proud of your name? “And you?”

The boy definitely has pride when he says his name, he sits up and puffs out his chest. “Orion Black, heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.”

 _That's what his crest is,_ Lyall realises. He has heard many things about the Black family and decides it would be best to tread carefully.

“Lupin...” the boy - Orion - considers his name for a moment, “your mother works in the Ministry, doesn't she?”

Lyall nods, happy to think of his mother and not the awful rumours he has heard about the family of the boy sitting across from him. “Mary Lupin, well she was Mary Roberts before she married dad. She works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, in the Beast office.”

“Huh, interesting. My father is rather popular in the ministry too, no doubt you know?” Orion asks, obviously knowing that Lyall knew.

Lyall did know that most believe that Arcturus III Black bought his way up the Ministry and that's why he got a First Class ribbon from the Order of Merlin. But he doubted this proud boy would like hearing that. “He was awarded a ribbon from the Order of Merlin.”

Orion scoffs, “You say it like it was any old ribbon! And it was a First Class reward. I swear he kisses that bloody ribbon at night - anyway, he probably just likes it because it's so green and never stops shinning.”

 _Fancy_ , Lyall thinks. “No doubt he earned it by doing something honourable,” he says without thinking.

If Orion notices the sarcasm in his tone he doesn't point it out, instead turning the conversation back around to Lyall. “Your uncle may well get one, eh? Isn't he off in Poland helping some muggles?” He says _muggle_  like it's the most disgusting word he has ever heard, like it's poison on his tongue.

Actually, Lyall was incredibly proud of his Uncle Roman who was an auror and indeed in Poland with a group of other brave men, British and American both, who were using their advantage of magic to help rescue muggles who were wrongfully punished for something they couldn't control, especially the muggles put in the infamous camps Lyall had heard a few things about. He isn't sure he wishes to learn more about them.

“Yes, he is, with a group of some aurors, even American ones.”

Orion doesn't look very bothered now and has laid back down, currently unlocking his cat's cage. In a bored tone he asks, “Your father is John Lupin, is he not? Doesn't he work in Beauxbatons or something?”

“In Ilvermorny,” Lyall corrects, “he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts there.” Lyall had went to America, Massachusetts specifically, once with his dad to visit his paternal grandparents who lived there. His American grandmother had went to Ilvermorny but visited Britain with her family for a holiday one summer and she had went Lyall's grandfather there, who was from the Highlands.

Lyall's dad had the choice to go to Ilvermorny or Hogwarts and choose the latter because he fell in love with Scotland (how ironic, that now he works and practically lives in America at Ilvermorny) and that's where he met mum. Lyall tries not to think of them, his parents and grandparents, because it makes him remember he won't see them for a while, not until Christmas.

“Are your part American or something? Or are you just obsessed?” Orion asks in an almost undermining tone, stroking his cat's fur.

“My dad's mum is American, she and my grandpa live there and my uncle went to Ilvermorny,” Lyall says quickly, not wanting to talk too much about his family. “Has all of your family gone to Hogwarts?”

Lyall knows the answer of course, but he didn't know what else to talk about. Orion, for his part, seems pleased to talk about himself and his family. “Oh, yes. All Slytherins too, apart from some bloodtraitors but they barely count. I'll be in the Slytherin common room by this evening, with my _beloved_ sister.”

Orion said it in a tone that told Lyall he didn't think of his sister that kindly at all. “I didn't know you had a sister,” Lyall says, even though he probably has heard of her before - the Blacks loved to be spoken about and were always on the front-page of most newspapers, after all. “Which year is she in?”

“Her fourth year now, she's already charmed the whole school. Including that fool of a headmaster - Dippet. Father said he was a Hufflepuff, so that probably explains why he is incapable of, well, everything. Only Merlin knows how he got such a high up job. Pity from those better than him, perhaps?”

Lyall had heard that Headmaster Dippet was kind and welcoming, if a little too trusting, but he didn't think you called someone a fool when you've never met them. Besides, what was wrong with Hufflepuffs? His mother, after all, was a Hufflepuff prefect and captain of the Quidditch team for three years. Something inside him tells him Orion wouldn't appreciate this information though, or even care.

Stroking his cat, Orion continues, “Lucretia tells me every day how much everyone simply adores her, how Dippet has promised already to make her Head Girl and she is certain Slughorn has decided on naming her a Prefect in a year. She even says that Muggle loving Dumbledore likes her! No doubt I shall be compared to her through all my seven years, then beyond. I bet she would become Minister of Magic just to spite me. I _so_ wish I were an only child.”

“I'm an only child,” Lyall tells him, “it gets lonely sometimes but mum couldn't have anymore kids - but having a bunch of cousins, all from mum's side, makes up for it.” He feeds Boggart some of the cat food he had bought at the pet shop.

Orion sighs deeply, loudly and very dramatically at that. “Don't speak to me about cousins, Lupin, I swear they are even worse than siblings - you don't know how fortunate you are, truly. I truly despise all my cousins. Well, they're technically my second cousins but it matters little. Walburga is of an age with Lucretia, both are as black hearted as the other except Walburga never bothers to pretend to be kind or good. I can respect that, really. I suppose respect is a good thing in marriage, no?”

That surprises Lyall. “You're marrying her?”

Orion raises his eyebrows and looks at Lyall as though he is the most incompetent thing he has ever saw. “Obviously. Our parents arranaged it as soon as I was born a boy. We both can claim ownership of our families' treasures when our parents die, she could even call herself heiress to the whole Black fortune - which would be quite false, considering I am the heir but you know women, always wishing to be equal - so it's a rather neat joining of our lines, I suppose.”

“Indeed,” Lyall nods, even though he can not ever imagine his parents arranging for him to marry anyone, least of all someone related to him, even if it was a second cousin. What a controlling family Orion comes from, he thinks with maybe a little sympathy for the rather annoying boy sitting across from him.

“If it wasn't Walburga and I marrying it might've been Lucretia and Alphard! Even I wouldn't do that to her and no doubt you can tell we aren't the greatest of friends,” Orion says, laughing. “Alphard is a year above me and has such a soft heart it's really quite embarrassing. He cares about muggles too, even befriends them. I wonder what Uncle Pollux, his father, would do with him if he hadn't been put in Slytherin and didn't look like his double. I bet my cousin would be on the streets by now.”

Lyall cannot even begin to imagine what kind of a family this is. Would a father really throw his twelve year old out on the streets because of his school house? Lyall asks the question before he can think. “He'd actually do that?”

Then Orion laughs again, probably thinking him so very naive. “Yes, we can't have him disgracing the family name, can we? If my son or daughter ever dared disrespect me I'd curse them and then throw them out.”

It almost frightens Lyall, how casually Orion speaks of that. “Really?”

“Don't worry, Lupin, it'll not come to that. I'll teach my children right, none shall go against me - and I can assure you if they did Walburga would punish them accordingly.”

Lyall cannot think of anything to say but, “Oh.” Boggart curls into him and Lyall strokes her fur carefully.

“I think Uncle Pollux should considering ridding the family of Cygnus too, he's always got his long nose in a book. To think, when I'm Prefect he'll be here!”

There wasn't an _if_ but a _when_ as Orion spoke of being a Prefect. Lyall supposed he had enough ambition to be a Slytherin. Orion takes out his wand then, opening his mouth - most likely to brag about the wood and core and such things - but then some other children come to sit down with them and soon enough some boy - a Malfoy? Or a Nott? - comes to get Orion and he seems quite happy to leave the other people in the compartment.

The rest of the train ride is quite comfortable, Lyall finds.

(Little does Lyall know that thirty-one years later his own son will end up sitting in a carriage with Orion's son and two other excited young boys, and a legendary, life changing friendship will be born between the four.)

**Author's Note:**

> We don't know very much at all about Lyall Lupin's history/family apart from Hope and Remus. It's more likely he was an only child and of only British heritage but I love my headcanons so... I like the idea of Lyall naming his son after his uncle and dad, Roman and John respectively.
> 
> In case you didn't get it, Lyall's father's parents (Lyall's paternal grandparents) live in America. His grandmother is American and his grandfather is Scottish. Lyall's uncle Roman went to school at Ilvermorny but his father John went to Hogwarts but works in Ilvermorny as a professor because he too couldn't help but fall in love with America as well (like his parents and brother).
> 
> Lyall's mother is Mary who is also Scottish and as is said in the fic she was a Hufflepuff, a Prefect and on he Quidditch team. Now, she works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures which has three sections; beast, beings and spirits. 
> 
> I think that's all for now? Well, I'll probably Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
